In Alignment With Angels
by THEponkey
Summary: A chronologically confused tale. Inuyasha and Kagome lovingly and tragically come together and find both their salvation and, consequently, destruction in each other. Detailed summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

**Full Summary:**

Despite Inuyasha's powerless position under Naraku's merciless command, he manages to find the one person in the world who can soothe his soul: Kagome. Inuyasha's job used to be almost easy to do because of his apathy, but now that they're together, they both have everything to lose. Can their love survive in such conditions, when giant obstacles and crushing despair lie around every corner? Discover the secrets of our heroes' pasts and present in this chronologically confused tale in which two broken lives find both their salvation and destruction in each other.

VERY IMPORTANT: THIS FIC (noticed I used the word _fic _ which means that I don't own any of the characters…you like how I slipped that disclaimer in there? Very sneaky, huh?) is purposely written out of chronological order, so if you plan on having the slightest idea of what's going on, you'll want to pay attention to the dates at the head of every section

Quick A/N: I previously posted this fic on under the penname Schrodingerscat, so don't think I plagiarized this. Because I didn't. This has been edited since then (it needed it…badly), so it's not exactly the same as the other version.

This fic is rated for language, lemons, and violence. Warning: this chapter contains very miserable characters. Despite how much it may seem like it, this is not pointless angst; it really is part of a plot.

PLEASE review!

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** June 12, 2004. 8:l6 AM. Kagome.  
**

"Inuyasha," Kagome began, needing to get the words out. She couldn't look at him and instead opted to pour herself cereal for her breakfast, as they both had to leave for work soon.

"Yeah?" He sounded…empty. As if his soul had deteriorated. Rotted away.

"I'm sorry about what I said last night," she confessed truthfully. The last thing she needed was extra guilt.

"There's no reason for you to be sorry Kagome." He leaned against the counter next to her, and she finally found the strength to turn to him.

"But there is. I didn't mean it, I really didn't."

"Kagome, don't worry about it. Even if you did mean it. I deserve your blame."

She shook her head emphatically. "It's not like that. Inuyasha…I love you. That will never change. I just hate that I got hurt because of it."

"I hate it too."

"But I do love you. You believe that, don't you?" She gently touched his cheek.

"I believe you." He cupped the back of her hand and pressed his cheek into her palm.

"I'm just going to have some trouble…being…with you. It's not easy."

"I know."

****

**October 5, 2004. 3:19 AM. Inuyasha.  
**

Inuyasha shook his head, trying to dispel from his mind the image of blood seeping from a stranger's walls. It felt wrong to bring those pictures into his apartment, where his mate rested. He unlocked the bolt and his hand closed around the doorknob, but he hesitated. More and more often lately, he hadn't been able to rationalize all the damage he caused, all the lives he took, as ways to maintain an income and a convenient outlet for all his frustrations. The scent of the blood covering his clothing wasn't helping him to forget.

The only thing Inuyasha wanted to do was go in, throw out his clothes, take a shower, and curl up in bed, holding close the (hopefully) sleeping girlfriend who was inside waiting for him.

With a sigh, he gave up and opened the door and stepped into his home, festering gory images and all.

He took a deep breath, soaking in the distinctive, calming smell of the only person who truly cared for him, and realized that the scent wasn't coming from their bedroom, where Kagome should have been at that time of night.

That wonderful, empty smell. For four months now, that smell had been lacking that which had made it so joyously complete. And it was entirely his fault.

Inuyasha cringed and locked the front door, then shook off his shoes, dreading what would happen when he stepped into the living room ahead of him. After what he'd just done, a little confrontation with his girlfriend should have been nothing. But the thought of Kagome being angry was infinitely scarier than the possibility of what could have happened had his task gone wrong.

If their imminent argument led to Kagome finding out what he'd just been doing…

He didn't want to finish the sentence, but his mind filled in the blanks unbidden.

She would leave him, and he'd be alone once again.

The lights were off and the room was nearly pitch black, but his eyes found her immediately. She was sitting cross-legged in their overstuffed armchair, looking very small, very hurt, and _very _ angry. She was glaring at him with every once of negative emotion she was able to retain. The look was out of place amid her cozy-looking gray cotton pajamas.

"Where were you?" she demanded, not wasting any time.

Inuyasha sighed. "I got a call from work."

"For what? What kind of emergency can they possibly have in the middle of the night in your line of work?"

She already didn't believe him. That was fair though. By day, he was a martial arts instructor in a dojo downtown. It wasn't just a lie; it was a stupid lie.

"Some kids were trying to break in. They called me to come and stop it." It was the only possible excuse he could think of.

"Right, they called you, as opposed to someone whose job it is to be awake at this time of night and take care of those things, like…oh, I don't know…maybe the police!"

"Look, I don't know why they called me, but they-"

Kagome's broken sigh interrupted him. "Inuyasha…it's time to stop lying to me. Just admit it."

"Kagome…it's very, very late."

"You think I haven't noticed that!" She was yelling now, fighting back tears. "Do you think that I haven't noticed that it's very late _every _ time you mysteriously disappear in the middle of the night?" She took a deep breath. "Turn on the light, Inuyasha."

He couldn't do that. He knew he was covered in dried blood. Kagome would be terrified and beyond pissed to see him like this again. "I…" There was no way out of this.

Kagome hugged herself tighter, a picture of hesitant fear, and Inuyasha felt sandpaper wrapping around his heart and squeezing. Immediately, he strode over and put his arms around her. A small bit of relief came to him as she sank into him, pressing her face to his neck. His hand held the back of her head, and he turned his face into her long, soft hair.

"Tell me you don't go every night where I think you go," she whimpered, clinging to his shoulders. "What is it that you do when you leave me?"

"It's nothing, Kagome. Nothing at all." He lifted her and plopped into the chair, pulling her securely into his lap.

Her shoulders started shaking, and he smelled the salt of her frustrated, exhausted tears. "That's such bullshit," she whispered. "Every night, I wake up to hear you walking out, and I'm sick and tired of waiting for you to come back, waiting to see if you'll stop keeping secrets from me without having to force it out of you. Goddamn it, Inuyasha, tell me I'm wrong! Tell me that you'd never do it again, simply because you promised me you wouldn't." She sounded spent, and she sniffled. All was quiet as he felt her shift slightly, then she jerked away from him.

"What is it?" Inuyasha asked

She scrambled off his lap and, as she settled sadly a few feet away, her form a beautiful, faint silhouette in the darkness, he could see that she was shaking slightly.

"You smell like blood," she whimpered. "It's not yours, is it."

Goddammit.

He stood and she took slow steps backwards, away from him. "I knew it. I fucking knew it." The anger was gone from her voice, replaced by a rigid chill.

"Kagome, this isn't what it seems. Please, just calm down." His voice was very even as he walked towards her, hands outstretched.

Her back reached a wall and her eyes never left his as he stepped ever closer to her. He didn't smell real fear on her, but her anxiety was nearly suffocating. Suddenly, her hand flicked out, and the room was filled with harsh light.

Her gasp attacked his ears as she saw the state he was in: the soiled clothes, the hair matted with blood, the gash in his side that had stopped bleeding, but was taking its time to heal.

She slid down the wall and her hands clenched each other at her chest. "What the fuck did you do, Inuyasha?"

"Kagome…please-" He reached for her.

"Stop! Don't come near me."

A growl ripped through his throat and in a fraction of a second he was crouched in front of her and leaning to bring his face close to hers, his hand tenderly gripped her chin. "Kagome, you know I'd never hurt you. You never have to fear me." His breath grazed her delicate skin as he spoke.

She shoved sharply at his chest, sending him back a few inches. "Don't you get it? I'm not afraid of you, I'm afraid of what you did."

He took her face in his hands. "You have nothing to be afraid of."

She gripped his wrists and wrenched his hands away. "How can you possibly tell me that?" She stood and skittered away a few steps. "After what you did, you have no right to tell me to calm down. You said that this would never happen again! You said…" She trailed off, staring at him in horror as he stood tiredly. "You promised me. How could you do this, Inuyasha?" She sounded so defeated, so broken, so full of hate.

"Kagome, please…just calm down. I know what I said, Kagome." He wanted to hang his head in shame, but he kept his eyes carefully, remorsefully on hers. "And I'm sorrier for breaking that promise than I could possibly say, but I had to."

"You _had _ to?"

He could practically taste her sarcasm, bitter and rancid. Inuyasha took a few steps toward her. Thankfully, she didn't retreat. "Kagome, this has nothing at all to do with you. This time, we're going to be completely separate from all that shit. This isn't going to affect our lives ever again. I promise, I won't let it."

"No, Inuyasha, that's just what you'd like to believe. Wanting things to be a certain way doesn't make them so. And for further reference, your promises don't mean shit anymore. Don't touch me!" she spat angrily, batting his hand away from her face.

He growled, instincts and temper flaring, and stepped forward enough for her to have to crane her neck to look up at him. "I'll touch you whenever I like, _mate_."

Her brown eyes darkened. "No, Inuyasha, you've lost that privilege after all you've done. I can't trust you anymore."

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A/N: I don't like the ending of this chapter. It had an adequate ending before editing, but I took out a lot of stuff that needed to be moved to a different chapter, so this is what I ended up with. Oh well!

The story does get better from here, once the plot is developed, but the dates also get more confusing. I've actually already finished writing this fic, so I'll update often if I get reviews. If I get a lot of reviews, I'll be more motivated to keep proofreading, so the chapters will come out faster. In other words: **please review**!

I hope you enjoyed reading the first chapter of In Alignment with Angels.

THEponkey


	2. Chapter 2

**IMPORTANT! PLEASE pay attention to the dates! It's the only way you'll have any idea what's going on later in the story.**

**A/N: Please enjoy and review!**

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**---**

**May 14, 2004. 4:12 AM. Inuyasha.**

Inuyasha stumbled into the bedroom and collapsed onto his bed. Kagome, waiting for him as always, was already awake. With a groan, she levered herself up to her elbows.

"Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha's jaw clenched and it took all his strength to crawl over to Kagome and run a clawed hand through her silken, sleep-disheveled hair. His breath was ragged as he leaned over to kiss her cheek.

"Are you alright?" she asked tentatively, touching at his chest, seeking comfort.

He nodded, not sure if she could see the gesture in the dark. He tilted over onto his side and managed to gather her in his arms, ignoring the pain needling up his leg from his shattered ankle and the sharp, squeezing, suffocating pressure of his crushed ribs. "Everything will be better in the morning," he rasped, and placed his hand over her distended stomach.

"You're just in time. He's restless," she told him softly, and put her hands over his to hold it to her skin.

Sure enough, after only a few seconds, Inuyasha could feel the faint fluttering of an elbow, or maybe a foot against his hand. He let out a deep breath and pulled Kagome closer. He pressed his lips softly against her temple and grinned at the feeling of his unborn son under his fingers.

"Inuyasha, you look half dead. What happened tonight?"

"Nothing too horrible," he told her, trying in vain to be comforting. "A few broken bones and, to be honest, I think I may have a concussion."

"What!" Kagome tried to sit up in bed, but Inuyasha held her down gently.

"Shh, just stay with me, koishii."

"Inuyasha, if you have a concussion, you can't go to sleep. You should go to a hospital! What if-"

"Kagome," he whispered, interrupting. "Calm down. I won't sleep, I promise. You, on the other hand, need your rest."

She opened her mouth to argue, but Inuyasha beat her to it.

"No, Kagome, you need sleep. I'll be fine, but not unless I know that you're getting enough rest for the both of you. Okay?"

She pouted grudgingly, but settled back into his arms. "I hate this, you know."

Inuyasha did know. He knew exactly what she was talking about. "So do I."

She frowned grumpily. "Anyway, it's not like I can sleep with your son assaulting my kidneys. He has your temper."

He grinned at that, and kissed her cheek.

Rolling her eyes, she tucked herself closely against him and Inuyasha contented himself with the sound of Kagome's relaxed breaths and his son's continued flurry of appendages. Inuyasha grinned and poked Kagome's stomach. What he recognized as a tiny fist appeared a second later in the same spot.

"Stop encouraging him," Kagome scolded. "The last thing he needs to learn is that beating his mother is a sport."

Inuyasha chuckled and said, "But it's so fun," but gave in and rested his hand softly over her navel.

It took a while, but he felt her drifting off in his arms, and soon the tiny life inside Kagome stilled as well.

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**April 14, 2004. 5:13 PM. Kagome.**

Kagome smiled as she watched from a slight crack between the blinds of the window as Inuyasha's class of eight year old boys bowed to him respectfully and retired to the walls to put on their shoes, laughing and bragging about what they'd learned.

Anyone who could manage to gain the respect of a roomful of whining, bratty, pokémon-obsessed eight year old boys deserved a medal. Truly, it was impressive. And Inuyasha practically had those kids eating out of the palm of his hand. The sight brought her to wrap her arms around her stomach. She smoothed a hand lovingly over her navel.

Moving away from the window now that class was over, Kagome opened the door and slipped inside.

Inuyasha was knelt down, talking to one of the boys, giving him last-minute pointers. The boy nodded emphatically, and went to find his shoes, punching at something only he could see as he went, and nearly knocking himself off balance as he did.

As Inuyasha straightened, he must have noticed her scent through the myriad of others in the room, and whipped around to see her standing in the doorway.

His face burst into a smile, and suddenly she was in his arms, feet solidly off the ground, and pressed very tightly against Inuyasha.

"You said you wouldn't be back in town for another two days," he reminded her, not bothering to set her back onto her feet.

She beamed at him, gleeful that her surprise had worked out. "It started raining so hard that we ended the trip early. Our tent was about to float away, so I thought I'd surprise you."

He grinned, ignoring the chorus of "oooh"s and useless taunts that had begun. "I'm glad you did."

The boys, feeling brave, decided to be more aggressive, and the taunting turned into insults. One glare from Inuyasha, who then gently set Kagome down and reprimanded the boys for being disrespectful, had them hanging their heads in shame.

"You're dismissed, boys."

Inuyasha shut the door after the last of them, then turned to look at her with a mischievous expression.

She sidled up to him, and then she was in his arms again.

---

**April 15, 2004 (barely). 12:55 AM. Inuyasha.**

"Goddamn it!" Inuyasha cursed loudly.

This was _not_ a good time. Kagome groaned, frustrated. "Ignore it." She leaned up and kissed him, hands gliding over the smooth skin of his back. For a moment, Inuyasha acquiesced. He moved his hand from her bare back to the bed beside her shoulder to support himself so he could put more pressure into the kiss. His cell phone kept ringing.

The sound was stabbing into his sensitive ears. With a growl he jerked away and made to grab it off the bedside table, but his hand missed entirely when Kagome bit gently at the nape of his neck, followed by a scorching kiss over the same place.

He groaned and returned his hand to her side, tracing along the perfect skin.

Finally, blessedly, the phone fell silent. With a sigh, Inuyasha's hand slid along her thigh and pulled it up beside his hip.

"Kagome," he moaned, and kissed at one of his favorite spots on her body, the dip her collarbones created where they came together at the base of her neck.

She mewled and shifted beneath him, her hands gripping at his sides as her back arched.

And then the phone started ringing again.

With a vicious growl, he grabbed the cursed little machine.

"Inuyasha," Kagome whined, and licked a little at his shoulder.

"Just a second," he panted, and hit the talk button. "What?" he barked. He couldn't stop his hand from playing along her very large, round stomach. She shivered and giggled. He loved her reactions to his slightest touch.

"Where the hell are you?"

Inuyasha groaned. "Miroku, what the fuck do you want? I'm kind of busy."

"Inuyasha, if you're not at the bus station within five minutes, Naraku is going to have both of us castrated so _you_ won't be late again. And if he doesn't kill you, I swear to god, I will."

"What?" Inuyasha grunted. Kagome's fingernails were scratching at the sides of his abdomen, and, combined with the feeling of her foot running along his calf, and her lips caressing the underside of his chin, he was barely hearing a word Miroku was saying.

Miroku sighed. "Inuyasha, get your horny ass out of bed right now, or Naraku will kill her so you won't have any more excuses."

That snapped Inuyasha out of his Kagome-induced stupor. He gulped. "Where are you?"

"At the bus station near the library. Exactly where you were supposed to meet me ten minutes ago. We've got to get this started within the next three minutes, or we'll be punished. Do you understand?"

"I'll be there in two." He hung up the phone.

Kagome was already glaring at him. "You'll be _where_, exactly?"

"Miroku's having some kind of fucking crisis. I've gotta go over there."

- -

**Kagome**

"_Now_? Since when have you ever been the chivalrous, helpful type; especially when it's inconvenient?"

"Kagome, I'd love to stay and argue this with you," he said, already sliding out of bed, "but I can't. I'm really sorry, but I have to go take care of this." Taking advantage of his hanyou speed, he was already pulling on pants and grabbing his shirt.

"You're just going to leave? Now?"

"I have to. Believe me, I don't want to, but-"

"So don't! I feel that it may be pointless to mention this, but we were kind of in the middle of something, in case you didn't notice."

"I noticed, Kagome," he told her, wrapping a hand around the side of her neck and pressing a quick kiss to her lips, then ducking down to press another above her navel as his hand caressed her rounded belly, "but there's nothing I can do. Get some sleep." He was striding out the bedroom door, shoes somehow securely on his feet through some move Kagome had missed.

"When will you be back?" she asked, pulling the sheet off the bed and wrapping it around herself.

"I'm not sure. Like I said, get some sleep."

Kagome jogged down the hallway in time to see him opening the front door to their little house. "Inuyasha!"

Pausing, he looked back at her. "What is it?" he asked, tenderness in his voice.

"I…I love you."

He streaked across the small room and, with a quick caress to her cheek, kissed her once, softly.

"I wish you didn't have to go."

"So do I." He was back at the door, looking at her soulfully. "Love you, koishii."

Kagome found herself smiling slightly as she went to the window after the door slammed shut. She just saw a streak of silver as Inuyasha quickly got up to full speed before disappearing from her sight in a split second.

There was absolutely no way for Kagome to track where he was going. She couldn't keep up with him in a car, not in the overcrowded streets of the city, and even if the roads were completely clear (which was like saying that maybe, just maybe, she'd be able to afford that car for her birthday that she'd wanted since she was a kid, the one that cost more than she got paid in a decade) there was no way Kagome could get dressed and into the car in time to see where he'd gone.

So she was in the dark. She hated it.

There was only one thing she could do: buckle down and wait.

After half an hour, Kagome was sure that Inuyasha hadn't gone to Miroku's. He'd gone wherever it was that he went _every_ night. He'd gone off to be mysterious, to lead a part of his life about which Kagome knew nothing.

Kagome was no control freak, but she didn't like the fact that at least a couple hours of each of her boyfriend's days were spent doing something she didn't know about, which was somehow more important than staying with her the night after she'd come back from a two-week long camping trip with Sango, and…well…finishing what they'd started.

Kagome picked up the phone and called Sango's cell, to see if Inuyasha actually was over there, but Sango's cell was off. _Like Inuyasha's should have been_, Kagome thought angrily.

This would be the last night Kagome sat waiting in the dark for Inuyasha to come home. This time she would find out what was happening.

---

**February 9, 2004. Kagome.**

"You know," Kagome said, reluctantly taking a break from her delicious cheesecake. "I can't think of a single time in my life when I've been happier than I am right now."

Leaning over the small table, Inuyasha gave her a soft kiss to the cheek. "I _know_ I've never been happier." He took her hand under the table. "Things can only get better from here."

She grinned at him happily. "And they weren't exactly bad to start with."

He squeezed her hand and found that her smile was contagious. "So do you have a name in mind?"

Kagome's eyes widened. "I hadn't even thought about it." She couldn't believe that that hadn't been the first thing to cross her mind. Everything was happening so fast. She put her free hand softly on her stomach. There was no noticeable difference in shape or size. "Did you have any ideas?"

Inuyasha shook his head. "We'll think of something. After all, we've got a little over six months to figure it out. That's plenty of time."

A warmth was filling Kagome's heart, the likes of which she'd never experienced. It was a completeness and a happiness she'd never imagined possible. "Inuyasha…I love you so much."

He gave her a dazzling smile. Everything about him radiated joy; the way he held her hand, softly yet securely; the way his eyes glittered in the dim light from the small lamps on the walls; the way his face looked more angelic and carefree than she'd ever seen it; it all reminded her of an immensely beautiful embodiment of happiness. "I love you too."

She bit her lip softly. "You're going to make a great father."

His eyes widened suddenly, and they glazed over a bit. "Father," he repeated, and chuckled a bit. "I hadn't thought of it like that. But I think I like the sound of it." The grin returned to his face full blown.

"Me too."

"This means that you _have_ to move in with me now," he teased. Kagome had been too lazy to finally finish bringing all her things into his apartment. Most of them had migrated there of their own accord, but not everything she needed was there.

She laughed. "I suppose it does." Kagome gasped, an idea filling her mind. "Can we turn the guest bedroom into the baby's room?"

He looked amused. "Of course."

Kagome was getting excited. "Inuyasha, we're going to have a family. A real family."

"And we won't fuck it up like our parents did," he added jokingly.

She smiled and nodded, but took the sentiment to heart. Even though she'd only learned about the child a few hours before, she was already starting to love it. Even though there was no evidence of its existence, other than a doctor's word that it was there, Kagome knew that her child was growing inside her; she simply _knew_, and it was the most incredible thing she'd ever felt in her life.

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**June 10, 2004. 6:18 PM. Inuyasha**

"K-Kagome?"

Oh Gods, she was here. She was back in their home, facing him, tears already on her face. After half an agonizing week of no contact since she got out of the hospital, of being unable to eat or sleep or do anything but imagine how much she must hate him, wondering if it could possibly compare to how much he loathed himself.

She burst into sobs. "Inuyasha!" She stood to come to him, but he was faster, sprinting across the small room and taking her solidly into his arms.

"Kagome…oh god, Kagome, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry." He muttered the words over and over into her hair. His voice was cracking and his limbs were quaking. She was clinging to him as if her life depended on it.

"I couldn't do it!" she wailed, tears blurring her eyes and wetting Inuyasha's shirt. "I tried so hard to stay away, because I knew that…that your life…it could only possibly hurt me more. But I can't!"

He had no words for her, nothing he could say to fix anything he'd done, anything he'd had to do. "Kagome…"

"Inuyasha, please; I came back because I need you. I need you to be here for me. Every night, in my sleep, I…I hear him crying for me, and…"

---

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**A/N: So there's chapter two. Confused yet? Review and tell me! Tell me what you think!**

**Review replies:**

**Inuyasha'sChic: Thanks so much for being my first review on this site!**

**ErrorDexis: I hope this was fast enough; I'm completely reorganizing the order of the story, so it takes forever to get things right! I was so, so flattered by your review! Thanks!**

**REVIEWREVIEWREVIEW….please!**

**Schrodinger's Cat**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Here's the third chapter of IAWA! Please enjoy and review!**

**ONCE AGAIN, PLEASE LOOK AT THE DATES AT THE HEAD OF EACH SECTION! THEY'RE IMPORTANT!**

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**June 1, 2004. 5:10 AM. Inuyasha**

His hands wouldn't stop shaking.

His entire body was trembling finely, but his hands were quaking so badly that his coffee was splashing in waves against the sides of his cup. His body would hardly move anymore. He knew it would completely stop functioning soon. Occasionally, blood would spatter onto the floor. He didn't give a damn.

Inuyasha realized that he was finally alone. He'd woken up hours before to find a team of nurses lifting him to get him onto a gurney, and he'd chased them all off, snarling and threatening them. He was going to stay right there and wait for Kagome. Ever since then, there had been people buzzing around the hall, rushing or bustling or worrying like him. It was agony; waiting to find out what would become of the rest of his life. He needed to know that they were alright. He needed to know that there was still a life for him. And now, finally, impossibly, the hall was deserted.

In the instant that he realized that, everything broke down.

The cup of coffee freed itself from his hands and fell to the floor, exploding in splashes of mud-like liquid. His knees were the next things to hit the ground, then his hands, and then his blood, seeping out of his wounds and tragically splattering against the tile.

"Oh, god!" he choked out.

His breath came fast and harsh, suffocating and loud. Raw like screams. His arms were shaking so badly that they barely supported him. He couldn't see a thing past the tears clouding over his eyes.

"Kagome!" he howled, his head tearing itself in two. Anger pressed against his skull; hatred and pure, raw anxiety.

"Oh, god, my son! My son, my son…Kagome…"

His weeping took over, and he stayed there, kneeling and bleeding and sobbing like only an utterly broken person could.

---

**August 5, 2003. 1:41 PM. Kagome.**

Kagome giggled uproariously.

"Yeah right, like they'd ever pay any attention to us!" she exclaimed to her best friend Sango.

"Well we'll have to _make_ them pay attention, won't we?"

Kagome laughed out loud. "Alright here's the plan." She pried her eyes off the gorgeous men far in front of her for just a second to make sure that Sango was paying attention. "You go wade out in the water, and strip off your top."

Sango began laughing as well. "Alright, then what?" she asked, playing along.

"Isn't it obvious? You run on shore and ask them to help you find it. After they've helped you recover your bikini top, you gracefully introduce me!"

Sango chuckled and swatted at Kagome. "Yeah right, Kag. Alright, how about we just ask to play. That's not so suspicious, right? They don't have to know that we hate volleyball."

Kagome sighed. "Whatever. You and I both know that we'll never get up the courage to confront guys like that."

The one Kagome had her eye on was tan and muscled in a lean kind of way and looked like a perfectly drool-worthy god in dark red swim-trunks. His hair was long silver, and though she couldn't really make out the details of his face from so far away, she could see that he had a ridiculously amazing body. Strangely, she could picture herself wrapping her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder. She blushed at the thought. He probably already had a girlfriend; guys that hot were never single.

Sango frowned, and pulled her sunglasses off and perched them on top of her head. "You know what? I'm sick and tired of passing up good opportunities because of shyness."

Kagome scoffed, not taking Sango seriously at all. Kagome was sick of it too, but that's the way she was. She couldn't really change that. "Good opportunities for what? A summer fling in which the only thing accomplished is one of them getting in your pants, and your heart getting broken? Yeah, that's something I'd like to work for."

"Kag, if you keep up that attitude, you'll never find out if there can be any other outcome. I'm going over there." Sango swept her hair up and secured it with a clip, then stood. "How do I look?"

Kagome eyed her best friend. Of course, Sango looked incredible in her pink and green bikini, her dark brown eyes and hair gleaming in the midday beach sun. "Well, your strap is twisted, but other than that, you look stunning, as always."

Sango grinned and brushed off the compliment, fixing the strap of her little bathing suit. "Yeah right, but thanks anyway. So are you coming or not?"

Kagome looked down at herself, studying her green and white suit. It was her favorite bikini. "Oh hell, why not?" Kagome stood and shook off as much sand as she could, and raised her own sunglasses. "Carpe diem, right?"

"Right. But the dark-haired one with the black suit is mine."

"Fine with me. The hanyou's way cuter."

"What, the guy with the silver hair?"

She nodded.

Sango made a face. "Whatever. You've always had horrible taste in men."

Kagome laughed, as they'd fought over the same guy more than once, and the two girls ventured over to introduce themselves to the group of guys and play a little beach volleyball.

---

**February 15, 2004. 4:10 PM. Kagome**

Kagome squealed and skittered across the room. "Inuyasha! You just splattered me from head to toe with paint!" She looked down at herself. The dark blue pajamas she was wearing for the job were now decorated with linear splotches of light, pale green.

"Oh, did I?" Inuyasha looked over at her, roller hanging from his hand and dripping all over the plastic covering the floor of the small room.

That tone was way too innocent to be true. Kagome's eyes narrowed. "You big bully! Picking on me when I'm not looking."

"Picking on you? Picking on you! Kagome, I couldn't pick on you if I tried. You'd surely beat me up," he teased.

Kagome laughed and swung her brush in an arc, splattering mint-colored paint at him, getting him right across his black t-shirt.

Inuyasha jumped back and shielded his eyes. "Augh! I just painted that spot!" He pointed to an area on the wall she'd splattered. "Now I have to roll over it all over again."

"Oh big deal, you baby."

Inuyasha turned to her crossly. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." Kagome sauntered sexily over to him.

A grin pealing across his face, Inuyasha opened his arms for her, and she slid happily in.

"I don't think I did quite hear you, actually?" he replied belatedly, while slowly lowering his head to meet her in a kiss.

"Oh, really?" she whispered, her lips half an inch away from his. "What happened to being an all-powerful hanyou?"

"Didn't I tell you?" He dropped his roller-brush and his hands slid around her waist. "I take breaks from that when it's convenient for me."

Kagome grinned and leaned in a little further. "Well, for clarificiation, I said that you're a big, huge _baby_!" She accented her point by slopping him across the face with her wet paintbrush, and proceeding to laugh uproariously.

She hurried away from him before he had the chance to grab her.

He stood there looking shocked for a moment, while Kagome was doubled over with choking laughter, then jumped into action, lunging towards her and grabbing the other sopping wet brush from the paint can.

With a shriek, Kagome scurried out of the way and ran across the room to safety.

Inuyasha changed course and leaped at her, looking to grab her right across the shoulders, but she ducked around him and spurred them into a short game of chase around the perimeter of the room.

In the blink of an eye Inuyasha was tackling her, then pulling her close and flipping them midair to protect her while he took the impact.

Kagome yelped and struggled to gain an advantage, but, all-out laughing now, Inuyasha rolled them and pinned her swiftly, kneeling over her and pinning her legs with his own and both her wrists with one large hand.

They were both still laughing loudly when he ducked down to give her one swift, deep kiss before pulling back and spreading paint all over her forehead. Kagome gasped for breath, caught between breathlessness from the kiss, laughing and panting from their game, and shrieking, as Inuyasha was currently using her face for a canvas.

"Inuyasha!" she managed to gasp out between choking laughs.

Grinning down at her, eyes twinkling, he painted the tip of her nose, then smeared it over both cheeks.

Somehow, miraculously, she managed to get out from beneath his hold, and, even more miraculously, get Inuyasha underneath her. He let her hold both his arms to the ground.

They both stayed that way for a moment, Kagome sitting on Inuyasha's hips and pinning him to the ground.

"So," Inuyasha said finally, after getting his fill of just staring at her. Kagome couldn't imagine that she looked at all decent, what with the paint covering her face and her grubby clothes on. "What else do you want to do to the room?"

"Well…" Kagome thought about it, and looked around. "We'll need a crib and changing table and other baby-furniture, obviously, but that'll come later."

"Yeah hon," he patronized, "how about _after_ the walls are dry."

"Hey, did I give you permission to talk?" She pinched his arm lightly.

He just smirked up at her. "Hmm, Dominatrix Kagome. That's a side of you I haven't seen before."

Kagome averted her eyes playfully. "That's because it doesn't actually exist," she admitted.

"I know, babe." He was still smirking.

Kagome shook her head. "Anyway, I bet we could do some cool stuff on the walls with stencils. It's too boring with just the light green walls. Maybe a nice border?" she suggested. "Oh, and pretty curtains. Lace ones! And-and-oh! And a little rocking-horse! I had one of those as a kid; I loved it! Yasha, can we get a rocking-horse? Huh? Can we can we can we?" She was bouncing up and down like a little kid. She'd never thought decorating her unborn child's room could be so much fun.

Inuyasha grinned and finally freed his arms so he could hold of her hips. "Yes, Kagome, we can get a rocking-horse. Happy?"

She beamed down at him. "Very." She leaned down to kiss him. He deserved it by now.

"Ew," he teased, "you're gonna get paint all over my face." His hands eagerly flexed against her hips.

"And whose fault is that?" she answered, and planted her lips softly on his.

One of his arms immediately slid around her waist and the other traveled up so he could cup the back of her neck in his palm.

He flipped them smoothly over and cradled her in his arms, kissing her more deeply.

After a few moments, Inuyasha pulled back slightly and slipped one hand to rest on her stomach. "You know," he said thoughtfully, "I think I feel a difference." He smoothed his hand over the plains of her abdomen.

"You do not!" she giggled.

"No, no, I do. It's little, but I would bet anything that that little lump is my son."

"Excuse me? There is no lump in my stomach. And who says that it's going to be a boy?"

"I do." He grinned and leaned down to kiss her again.

---

**October 5, 2004. 3:56 AM. Inuyasha**

When Inuyasha emerged from the shower, their bedroom was dark and Kagome was lying in bed, tucked tightly under the covers. He could tell she wasn't asleep, but her heavy breathing told him she was barely awake.

He let his towel fall to the floor, not bothering to put anything on, and slipped under the covers. He tentatively scooted closer and lay down on his side. He pulled in a deep breath laced with her scent, and wrapped an arm around her securely.

She jerked into full consciousness and realized what had awoken her. "Don't touch me," she whispered brokenly.

Inuyasha sighed and propped himself up on his elbow. Leaning over her, he kissed the side of her neck in the cover of the blackness of the room. His arm pulled her against him firmly. She felt so small. "Come on, Kagome. We can get through this. Don't do this." His kisses traveled lightly up her neck, and he nipped at her earlobe.

"Don't do what?" She wouldn't look at him, wouldn't dignify his advances with a physical response.

"Don't try to be distant." Giving up, he flopped onto his back and let his arm fall across his eyes. He'd long-since resigned himself to self-hatred. He'd become an expert at pushing back emotions in favor of apathy, and accepting the truth for what it was, no matter how horrible and gruesome. "You knew what I was when you mated me. Don't act so affronted."

"You told me that people change," she accused bitterly.

"Yeah, well, I lied. They don't."

She shook her head. "_That's_ the lie. You have changed, I know you have."

He rolled his eyes and crawled over her, a leg and arm on either side of her curled body. "Kagome, look at me."

Complying, she rolled onto her back within the confines of his limbs. "Why would you do this, Inuyasha? Why would you make me feel like this again? I'm so tired of trying to figure out whether I can possibly love you anymore." She sounded so damn hurt, and her eyes screamed offenses and regrets.

It was too much to take, and his eyes left hers, settling in the darkness of the rest of the room. "I went back because I had to."

"Don't give me that self-sacrificing crap. You didn't _have_ to do anything."

"I did, Kagome. You honestly thought that Naraku would just let me go, and I let you believe that because it was easier than telling you that I couldn't be what you wanted me to be. I mean…yeah, for a while we avoided him, but it didn't last as long as you thought, and it only made things worse."

"But…but weren't you happy that time? Why did you go back to that bastard? I just can't see how you could possibly go back after what happened to us. You're willingly repeating the mistakes you made, after you promised me you would never do it again! Have you forgotten the consequences?"

"You know perfectly well that I haven't forgotten. There's nothing that could possibly make me forget what I did. But I didn't _choose_ to go back. I had to. Kagome…you just don't understand what would have happened to us if I hadn't complied. He would have punished me, and he would have done it by doing something horrible to you. If you think that I could have just sat back and let that happen, you're insane. I can't lose you too."

"Inuyasha…do you know how many nightmares I used to have that you wouldn't come home because you'd ended up on the wrong side of a job like the one you obviously had tonight? I don't want to do this anymore; I don't want to wake up alone in the middle of the night terrified that I'll never see you again, and knowing that I can never lead a safe life with you." Her words were just complaints, but her voice spoke volumes; it said that she had completely given up.

"I don't want that either. But what the hell am I supposed to do? If I do what Naraku says, yeah, I admit that there's a chance that I'll get hurt. But if I don't do what he says, it's definite that he'll come after you, and if that happens and I can't protect you…it's just not even a semblance of an option. For now, I've got to do what he says, until I find a way out of it."

Her eyes filled with tears again.

"Kagome, please, don't cry. Just…it doesn't help anything, and it makes me feel like the biggest schmuck on the planet."

"Good. You _are_ the biggest schmuck on the planet." She looked up at him hollowly. "Inuyasha…you make me hate you sometimes. You know that, don't you."

He settled his weight on his elbows, then wiped the tears from her face. "I know. But don't be scared, Kagome. I'll always protect you."

"It's _you_ I'm worried about, you moron, not me."

"What part of _always_ didn't you understand? How can I protect you if I'm not around?"

The beginning of Kagome's smile died before it ever really existed. Her eyes were laced with their regular, compulsory sorrow. It never really left her expression anymore. "Inuyasha…" A soft hand touched his cheek, then dropped away as a tear trailed down over her temple. "I miss the days when a promise like that would have made me feel safe."

---

**August 5, 2003. 1:43 PM. Inuyasha**

She had to be the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen and even from so far away, he could smell that her scent was like heaven.

Inuyasha rated her age a couple years below his own, at a fresh twenty, and she was staring directly at him.

Their volleyball game was brought to a crashing halt as the two girls approached, but Inuyasha held eyes only for the slightly shorter one in the wondrously tiny green and white bikini.

Her figure was mouth-watering. She was perfectly petite and slightly curvy. Her hips were rather slim and her unabashedly visible abdomen was just sculpted enough. Something told him that if he were to take her in his arms and press her against himself, she would fit perfectly.

The girl realized that she'd been caught staring at him just as avidly, and she turned away with a blush, and whispered something to her friend that he didn't catch, as the wind blew her words away from him.

"Holy shit," he heard Kouga mutter.

Inuyasha spared him a glance to see that the wolf youkai was practically salivating, staring straight at the same one Inuyasha had already mentally claimed.

"Mine," Kouga declared simplistically.

Inuyasha growled challengingly. "Yeah right. Back off, Kouga."

Kouga smirked. "Not this time, dog-boy. This one is mine."

Inuyasha could feel his youkai side reacting violently to the statement. He had this incredible feeling about the girl. There was no way he could let her slip away to some bastard like Kouga. "She's not," he snarled back.

Soon the girls were within speaking distance.

They had a tiny five-second quarrel over who should speak first, and finally the girl in the pink and green bikini spoke.

"Hi."

It was a good start.

Miroku spent about thirty seconds spitting out something that, after a lot of jumbled words, amounted to a "Hi" in return.

The girls giggled predictably.

"We were wondering if we could join your game," the girl Inuyasha didn't really care about stated shyly. _His_ girl bit her lip and kept her eyes on the sand.

"I'm Kouga," the youkai introduced himself. "These are Miroku and Houjo." He left out Inuyasha.

The hanyou rolled his eyes and bared his fangs at Kouga. The man was nothing but an annoyance.

"What's your name?" Inuyasha's girl asked him quietly, not looking him in the eye.

Inuyasha smiled at her charmingly and told her.

"I'm Kagome, and this is Sango," she introduced, still not really looking any of them in the eye.

Now that acquaintances were made, the six of them began playing. The girls didn't play too well, as they hadn't played since P.E. class in their first year of high school, but no one minded, especially as their bathing suits shifted all over the place every time they went for the ball. The guys found themselves dropping the balls and hitting at nothing more than air on multiple occasions because of those distractions.

The longer he watched her, the more surely he knew that this girl had the potential to change his life. And Inuyasha would take absolutely any change he could get.

So, before Kouga could get to her, Inuyasha asked, "Hey, Kagome, do you want to take a walk with me?"

She blushingly agreed after gaining reassurance from her friend, and they walked down the beach together.

He could feel Kouga glaring at his back.

They made small talk and he came to love the sound of her voice. She was such a gentle person.

Not very much later, he reached down and took her hand. She gripped his own in return, and it was then that he realized the magnitude of this new development. His life would never be the same.

---

**May 31, 2004. 5:08 AM. Kagome.**

"You are Inuyasha's bitch, are you not?"

Kagome frowned and told herself to have courage. "I'm Inuyasha's mate, yes." She stared darkly into the eyes of a man she'd never met before. He reeked of evil, and his blood red eyes shone with it.

"So what is a pregnant bitch like you doing out of the den so early in the morning?" The man sneered at her contemptuously from where he sat like a dark king on a soiled throne.

The room in which she stood consisted largely of black marble, and there was a gothic, unnerving feeling about the place. Maybe it was just the man at the head of the room who made it so. He sat in pristine dark clothes, a look of malicious malcontent seemingly plastered onto his face as he stared at her almost greedily. His dark hair slithered out in tendrils, hanging limply down the front of his suit. This was Naraku; the man who had practically enslaved her mate.

"I'm here to talk to you about Inuyasha," she said bravely.

"I assumed as much. Tell me, bitch, does your mate know that you're here?" He raised a proud brow.

Kagome fidgeted. "No. And I'd appreciate if we could keep this quiet."

"Interesting. I'm intrigued. You may proceed."

She took a deep breath. "Inuyasha is a genuinely good person. He doesn't deserve to live the life he does, and he doesn't want it anymore. We'd like to start over together, but we can't do that when you refuse to let him go. That's why I'm here. To ask…" Kagome paused, swallowed her pride, and kneeled to her knees, "No, to beg that you release him from your services. Please, please do this. He deserves his own life."

The room was quiet for a few seconds. Kagome saw from the corner of her eye that the guards were shifting anxiously, but she refused to break eye contact with the dangerous man in front of her.

"Let me make sure that I understand," Naraku began. "You want me to release one of my best assassins for no reason other than your asking prettily?" Naraku sneered. "Stand up girl, because begging won't help. The fact that you have come here to get on your knees and beg a man you've never met for your mate's freedom is pitiful. Get out of my sight."

Kagome stood, outraged. "You can't do that! You have no right to make his life hell like you do, you bastard! Inuyasha is such a good person, but you won't let him live his own life! Why! You must have others to take his place! He can't be that important to you; please, just let him go!"

"Inuyasha belongs to me. His _life_ belongs to me, and I will do with it what I see fit. It is not a belonging which I am willing to give up just to satisfy the crazed morals of one little girl."

"How dare you! You talk about people's lives like they're toys, you goddamn monster!"

"They are toys to me, little bitch, and watch your tongue." He rose from his chair.

"No, you should watch your tongue! How could you be so heartless! You've taken away everything that we had hoped to have! Time and again, you've proved yourself to be the dirtiest, most pathetic being on the face of the Earth by-"

Kagome was interrupted when Naraku's hand flew out and struck her across the face with the back of his hand. Instantly, a demon guard was gripping her by the back of her shirt. Kagome put her hand to her cheek in shock and pain.

"You want me to throw her out, sir?" the guard asked eagerly.

Naraku shook his head almost imperceptibly, and the guard slunk back into the small crowd. "Get out."

Those two small words were all it took. The throbbing already beginning in Kagome's cheek pushed her courage into remission and it failed her. She turned and ran.

---

---

A/N: Ack! I got twice as many reviews for ch. 2 as I did for ch. 1! I'm flattered! You know what would be great? Twice as many for ch. 3 as I got for ch. 2! Like i said before: this entire story is finished; it just needs re-editing, so how quickly I update really depends on how many reviews I get.

Review replies:

Inuyasha'sChic: Here it is! Hope you enjoyed it.

ErrorDexis: Wups! I don't _mean_ to be cruel! Hope this relieved the cliff-hanger tension. Thanks for your review!

i-luv-the-cat-sohma52: I made you cry? I don't think my writing has ever had that affect on someone before! Thank you so much!

SilverSqueakyInuEars: I am so unbelievably flattered. Thank you so, _so_ much! Honestly, I read your review and went "Aww! Now I _have_ to update!" And now I am! Thank you!

Thanks for reading! I would LOVE to hear your feedback, so please review!

THE ponkey


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hey everybody, back for chapter four! Hope you enjoy, and, as always, please review!

STILL IMPORTANT: LOOK AT THE DATES! THINGS WILL MAKE SENSE EVENTUALLY!

---

**June 4, 2004. 5:12 PM. Inuyasha.**

Inuyasha softly wiped at Kagome's brow and took her hand again.

"You want some water?" he offered gently.

Kagome shook her head to the negative.

She looked so deathly pale, lying there in pain, no expression but misery on her face. This damn hospital room was doing nothing for her.

"Kagome," he began, but didn't know where to go from there, and instead dropped his face to her pillow, to kiss her cheek and look at her profile. He fought for words, but only found a few. He tried them out to see if they'd work. "Things will get better." They didn't work at all; they crashed and burned.

Kagome didn't say anything; she hadn't spoken much at all in the past few days but her eyes told him that she didn't believe him, that she no longer trusted him.

Inuyasha's stomach churned. The throb of his heart was painfully strong. He wanted to hold his son in his arms, to look upon their firstborn child. Now it was just a dream. Where could they go from here?

**February 12, 2004. 11: 29 AM. Kagome.**

"Are you a happy boy, now that you have me all to yourself?" Kagome teased, setting down the last of the light boxes. Those were the only ones Inuyasha would let her get her hands on. The moment he'd found out she was pregnant, he'd gone into protective mode, and the only boxes he'd let her pick up weighed less than three pounds.

"Yep." Inuyasha tugged her confidently into his arms. His brazenness never got old. It was actually rather adorable, really. "It certainly took you long enough to move in here though."

Kagome grinned up at him. "I was practically living here anyway."

"It's that 'practically' part that got to me," he informed her.

"Oh I see. So now what? You wanna break for lunch?"

"Hmm, how about we try out the bed?" he suggested slyly, kissing a line down the side of her neck. It felt delectable but Kagome did have a point to make.

"Inuyasha, it's the same bed you've always had," she told him dryly.

"Oh really?" he murmured distractedly. "Well let's go make sure it still works."

Giggling, Kagome let him lead them into the bedroom. How could she possibly refuse an offer like that?

**June 1, 2004. 2:16 AM. Inuyasha.**

Inuyasha spared a moment to simply stare at Kagome.

He loved how angelic her face looked when she was sleeping, like nothing could ever bother her and all was right with the world. Just as much as that, he loved the sight of her very rounded belly, holding up the covers as if Kagome was harboring a small beach ball under her shirt. He was glad that he'd insisted that she go to bed; she could obviously use the rest. The girl had been dead to the world within seconds.

Inuyasha silently crept to the bed and rested one hand against the swell of her stomach. He whispered to his son that everything would be fine, soon they would be free.

Hastily, he returned to packing. He would have everything ready to go within an hour or two. Granted, they'd have to leave a good bit behind, but that was plenty of time to get all that they needed, and go. Inuyasha hated the fact that they were leaving behind the beautiful room they'd painted and decorated for their son right after Kagome had moved in with him. He didn't want to leave this apartment; not now that he'd finally learned how to create positive memories within its walls.

Inuyasha winced sharply at the pain in his leg and side. His body felt like a wreck. The bulletholes were long-since scabbed over but the two of them hurt like hell and the various fading bruises and scrapes didn't help much either. He had to keep moving though, or they'd never get out of there.

He returned to zipping up the last clothing bag and staging it by the door.

Suddenly, he froze, every nerve and muscle in his body frozen and wary.

There was someone in his house.

Two seconds passed. Three. Four. Five.

Whoever it was knew that he was awake; it was a demon, and they were masking their scent and hiding almost all sound. They were most definitely professionals. That could only mean one thing: they had been sent by Naraku.

With a deafening mental curse, Inuyasha dove for Kagome and threw his body over her, shielding her with the only thing he had: himself.

He had moved not a nanosecond too soon. The door burst open, splintering with the impact it made against the wall, and then the firing began.

Infinite pain raced all over his body, and Inuyasha gasped and gritted his teeth against the pain.

He clutched his hands in the sheets below him, waiting for the firing to stop. Finally, there was silence.

Within the blink of an eye, two demons were lying dead on the floor; before Inuyasha had consciously realized what and how many there were, he had killed them, claws ripping viciously to slit their throats to a point which surpassed any chance of survival.

His fear in that moment, after he'd killed the two men who had attacked him and his mate, was more intense than every other feeling he'd ever felt. His breath was a living thing, shaking and vibrating and generally being uncooperative in his throat. It caught on everything and stuck to the sides of his windpipe. The smell of Kagome's terror reached him like a head-on collision with an eighteen-wheeler.

What he saw after that infinitely long half-second it took him to turn around made his entire body clench and his legs give out. He stumbled to Kagome's side.

Blood was blossoming on the left side of her abdomen, slowly seeping outwards. Unconsciously, Inuyasha's hand drifted to the same spot on his own body, a gaping hole where one of the bullets had gone all the way through.

Kagome had her hands over the spot. "Inuyasha?" she whimpered almost silently.

"I'm here, Kagome," he told her, and shooed her hands away to apply pressure to the wound. "I'm going to get you to a hospital, and everything is going to be just fine. Okay, Kag? It'll all be fine." His voice was quivering almost as much as his hands as he wrapped her in the bed sheet and gathered her gingerly into his arms. He shoved away hysteria, needing to stay lucid enough to properly take care of Kagome.

"You promise?" she whispered, eyes glazing over as she winced from the pain.

"I promise, love." In seconds, he was running faster than he ever had in his life, Kagome's head cradled safely against his shoulder. Tears threatened to blur his vision, but he kept his hold on Kagome and kept going, pushing himself faster as he spackled the city below with his own blood.

Then he was somehow in the hospital, not really remembering getting there, and he was stepping through the emergency doors, screaming for assistance.

The ward was set into motion, and they quickly had Kagome on a gurney. Inuyasha gripped her hand as they wheeled her down a hall. She wouldn't let go of his hand, and he kissed it softly, and placed it onto the gurney. He only watched as they wheeled her away into some mysterious room, and out of his sight.

Finally, his knees gave out, and he sank to the floor.

"Sir, you've got to come with us, you've sustained multiple bullet-wounds; even for a demon, it's amazing that you're conscious with as much blood as you've lost."

Inuyasha looked up at the young nurse. "You have enough doctors to take care of me and her at the same time?"

"Of course we do. Here, let me help you." She bent down to him and Inuyasha almost let her help him, but jerked away at the last minute.

"No! Go help my mate!"

"Sir, we can-"

He growled fiercely and grabbed the woman by her upper-arms, staring into her eyes with murder written on his face. He could feel his youkai side struggling to emerge. "I've trusted you people with her life and if anything happens to her, I swear I'll make every single goddamn one of you pay."

The nurse hurriedly retreated out of his grasp as he sank to the floor, and fled from the room. There wasn't any merit to his threat. If anything happened to Kagome or his son, he was the only one to blame.

Inuyasha slumped over a chair and reached to his back to begin pulling out the bullets still inside his body. He dug the claws of his free hand into the hard plastic of the chair below him, but didn't stop until all the bullets were out and blood was sliding in sickening waves down his back.

He could think of nothing but Kagome.

He would die without her and he wondered if that was exactly what was happening as he slid down to the floor and into blackness.

**June 10, 2004. 6:20 PM. Kagome.**

"Every night, in my sleep, I…I hear him crying for me, and…"

Kagome broke down in tears. The pain was so extremely acute, like her very life had been stolen from her. She could feel physical pain, sure, as getting shot actually hurt quite a bit, but it was less than nothing compared to that tearing, aching, screaming feeling she felt when she thought of her son.

"Inuyasha," she hiccoughed, "you have to promise me. If I'm ever going to be able to stand being in the same room as you, you have to swear to me that you'll never go back to being an assassin. You have to swear to me, Inuyasha!"

"Yes," he nodded, looking so very broken. His eyes, ordinarily so electric, were sleep-deprived and bloodshot and so very pained. "I promise you, Kagome." He took her face gently in his hands. "I love you. More than anything. I promise, I'll never go back to it."

It was so easy to accept that, to let things fall into place and at least pretend that they could start over, that they could move on and be together. Inuyasha held her securely. Even though the sensation of his arms wrapped tightly around her didn't ease the pain of mourning, it somehow made life seem a little more…right.

**May 31, 2004. 9:12 PM. Inuyasha**

Inuyasha clenched his jaw in anger. He couldn't believe Kagome had managed to keep this from him all day. How could she have been so stupid? Didn't she know that she could have been killed! He was actually amazed that she hadn't been.

Inuyasha stood abruptly, ready to put an end to that which made him even more mad: Naraku had struck his mate.

"Inuyasha, where are you going?" Kagome asked, sniffling through her tears of guilt, hands on the stomach of her maternity sundress.

He didn't respond and instead went into their bedroom. He pulled his gun from the drawer of the bedside table and shoved it under the hem of his jeans.

"Inuyasha, what are you doing with that! You can't be thinking of using that! I saw how many guards were in that room; you'd be dead in a split second!" She grabbed onto his arm. "Don't go, Inuyasha."

He spun on her, a growl erupting fro his chest. "Kagome, sit down," he ordered sharply.

Surprised, she sat, plopping onto the edge of the bed, and he bent down to look her in the eye, as if he was disciplining a child. His expression was fierce.

"You're carrying our child. You are almost seven months pregnant; the last thing you need to be doing is going around putting yourself in dangerous situations. It was a stupid, irresponsible thing to do and I wish to God that you hadn't done it, because the thought of you alone in a room with those people terrifies me. But the fact that he struck you, when he knew that you were my mate, and he knew that you were pregnant, is unforgivable. Now, you're going to stay in this apartment until I get back, and you're going to be relatively still; you've had enough action for one day."

"Where do you get off telling me what to do like that?" she demanded angrily.

He gripped her chin softly between his thumb and the knuckle of his forefinger. "Kagome, don't fucking question me, alright? You've probably caused a hell of a lot more trouble than you know, and now I'm going to go take care of it. Stay here." With that, he kissed the top of her head and turned to go.

"Inuyasha, stop! I'm not letting you leave this apartment until you tell me what you're going to do!" She came after him, clutching her belly.

Inuyasha sighed. "Koishii, I'm going to talk to him and tell him never to touch you again. I'm not going to get myself killed, I promise."

It was clear that she didn't believe him, but Inuyasha wasn't sure if he believed himself either. He brushed the backs of his fingers softly against her cheek before he spun on his heel and left.

Inuyasha could have run the route to Headquarters blindfolded and he was there within minutes. He headed straight for Naraku's office. The room was filled with black marble and within its walls, guards and assassins were sure to be found milling around, at Naraku's command.

"Naraku!" he yelled, anger blazing once more as he burst into the room.

"Ah, Inuyasha. I've been expecting you."

"You fucking bastard!" Then Inuyasha had him by the collar of his suit, and, blindingly fast, he had the gun leveled to Naraku's temple.

There was a massive noise of clicking as every guard in the room cocked their gun and leveled it straight at Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha, this is hardly necessary."

"Naraku, I swear if you ever touch her again, I'll rip your dirty fucking fingers off," he hissed.

"Now, aren't you forgetting which one of us works for the other? I believe it's you under my jurisdiction, no the other way around. Put the gun down."

"I should kill you for touching her, you pathetic bastard."

"Inuyasha, it was that kind of anger that got your mate in trouble."

Inuyasha snarled venomously. "From now on, you're never going to see her, so you'll have no excuse. Leave her the hell alone, or I _will_ kill you." With one final jerk, Inuyasha shoved Naraku away from him and backed up a few steps.

Naraku finally stood and he studied Inuyasha for a moment before lashing out and striking him across the cheek with the back of his hand. Inuyasha stared at Naraku in astonishment.

"You deserve the same treatment as your pitiful bitch."

With a growl, Inuyasha tackled Naraku, and started punching the twisted asshole in the face, as hard as he could. He had only gotten in a few good hits before he was dragged off and physically thrown out of the building.

Inuyasha raised himself up from the ground and rubbed his knuckles. This was it; the time had come. He jumped to his feet, realizing for the first time since seeing that scratch on Kagome's face that his numerous bullet-wounds still hurt horribly. The hanyou sprinted home and flung open the bedroom door. Kagome was sitting there, an image of worry.

"Kagome, we're leaving."

She blinked. "Inuyasha, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, but we have to leave. Before sunrise, we have to be out of here."

"What did you do?"

"That's not important. Start packing up the bare essentials, and then go to bed. You need your rest and I can pack up everything else by myself and have it ready to go before sunrise."

Kagome stared at him for a moment. "We're really leaving? Once and for all?"

"Once and for all."

Kagome rushed into him in a hug and he stroked her hair and held her tight. "Now," he murmured, kissing her forehead, "let's get packing."

---

A/N: I'm thinking of revising the summary. If anyone has any suggestions as to what I should include, or even any help at all, I'd appreciate it!

I had a lemon scene at the beginning of this chapter, but it bugged me so I cut it. No one has hinted at particularly caring about that sort of thing, so if that's the case, I'm just going to leave it out. However, if you want to see it, it's just floating around in my hard drive doing nothing, so I could slip it into a different chapter.

Speaking of chapters, IAWA is officially more than half over! The story is seven chapters long.

Reviews!

i-luv-the-cat-sohma52: Thank you!

XAmiX: Thanks, i'm glad you read it too!

SilverSqueakyInuEars: I'm so glad (SO GLAD!) that someone likes the out-of-order dates! Thank you! Haha, you probably hate Naraku even more after this chapter, huh? thank you soooo much!

Inuyasha'sChic: Thank you very much!

ErrorDexis: Well, the erratic timing...oh jeez. Okay, so i had this cool idea for a story, but it was just a sequence of events, flashes of these really miserable characters. So i tried to put it into some kind of logical order, and it kind of lost its appeal. So i thought it would be really fun to do something all out of order and confusing. It definitely wasn't my intent to make it unreadable, but i thought it was something cool that i'd never tried to do before. And i've never really been sure whether it was a good decision or not! But anyway, thanks so much for your review!

The more you review, the faster I update. I know everybody says that, but…it's true. So…REVIEW PLEASE!


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Back again for chapter number five!**

**IMPORTANT: READ THE DATES! REEEEEAAAAD THEM! WE'RE GETTING CLOSE TO THE END, BUT NOTHING WILL MAKE SENSE IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHEN IT HAPPENED!**

---

**June 16, 2004. 12:09 AM. Inuyasha.**

Inuyasha read the note over again, and then once more. There was no mistaking the message. It meant only one thing:

He had no choice but to go back.

"Dammit, I promised," he whined to the night air, and glanced at the apartment building behind him. He spotted the now-shattered window which lead to the kitchen, and could see Kagome peering down at him from inside it. "I promised her." He turned back to the note.

_Your vacation is over, Inuyasha. You will come back now. If you refuse, you mate will be the one to pay for your mistake. Report in tomorrow at midnight or say goodbye to her._

He officially had no choice. They would kill her. Inuyasha heard her coming down the apartment complex stairs and shoved the note into his pocket. They should have left while they had the chance.

He couldn't tell her. She would hate him, think him a heartless bastard for going back, even if she saw the note. She'd never forgive him for repeating the mistakes which had resulted in the loss of their son.

"Inuyasha, what is it?" she called from the door. She came out and stood behind him. He could hear her shiver even though the summer air was warm and stagnant. "What's wrong?" She was distant, as always. She had barely touched him, barely looked at him, since she'd come back.

"Nothing. Just some damn kids playing a stupid joke. We'll have to get that window fixed."

She nodded. "It's late. Let's go back to bed."

Inuyasha nodded, accepting that a large part of his life would once again be a lie. "Yeah, let's." He picked her up, smiling slightly as she gasped in surprise, and carried her inside, all the way upstairs and back into bed. He held her close until she was asleep.

**May 30, 2004. 10:16 PM. Kagome.**

Finally, blessedly, Kagome heard the sound of Inuyasha's unmistakable footsteps approaching the door. There was something wrong, though.

Kagome frowned. She would have gotten up to go to him, but these days, getting up was such a hassle; her stomach was huge, and she wasn't even seven months along yet.

Inuyasha's footsteps were unsteady, and when he finally got to the door, he almost fell through.

"Inuyasha!" she exclaimed, as he tumbled onto the bed. She clambered over to him and brushed the hair away from his face, examining his body for serious wounds. Dammit, this was the second time in three weeks that he'd come home thoroughly battered, bruised, and broken.

"Jesus, Inuyasha, what happened?" One entire pant-leg was stained with blood, as was his side.

"I…got shot," he groaned. "Twice."

Kagome's hands covered her mouth in fear. "Inuyasha, you've got to go to the hospital! I'm going to ambulance!"

"No, koishii. Stay with me."

"But, Inuyasha, you need help!"

"They've already stopped bleeding. I just need to lie down."

Kagome swallowed hard and accepted that he was too stubborn to get help when he needed it. She helped him lie down slowly and he cringed in pain.

"Hold on," she ordered, and made the sacrifice of getting out of bed. She grabbed the strongest painkillers they had and returned with a glass of water.

Once Inuyasha had downed the meds, she shifted his head onto her lap. "Tell me what happened, love," she requested.

He shook his head vaguely. "The job just went bad. The guy pulled out a handgun and fired off two lucky shots before I could get to him. That's all."

That clearly wasn't all. Inuyasha was a wreck; he looked like he'd been thoroughly beaten with a baseball bat. His face was cut and there were dried blood and bruises everywhere.

The medication kicked in and Inuyasha was soon asleep.

Kagome stayed awake for quite a while, stroking Inuyasha's hair and pondering. Her eyes snagged on the blood on his ear, the mark of claws on his chest.

Enough was enough.

Only days before, he'd fallen into bed with a concussion and smashed ribs and arms. She would go to Naraku tomorrow morning; she would sneak out of the house and see Naraku, and she would plead- no, she would _beg_ for Inuyasha's freedom.

She couldn't stand seeing him like this anymore.

**August 12, 2003. 7:54 PM. Inuyasha.**

It was time. Of course, he wouldn't tell her _everything_, but he would tell her enough. She had to know.

He'd realized a few days before that this girl wasn't just someone who had the potential to change things for him; she was an incredible human being and he would be fortunate to have her in his life in any way. But he couldn't do that to her. He couldn't bring her into his world of disgusting torture and murder.

"Kagome, I'm…not such a good person." True statement. Go on.

Kagome frowned at him and paused the movie. "What?"

"I said that I'm not such a good person."

She turned to him. "What are you talking about?"

"The way I've come off in the past week isn't the way I really am. I'm not a good person."

Kagome took his hands gently. "I think you're a good person."

He couldn't bear to look her in the eye. "I know that's what you think. But it's not true."

"I don't believe that." She touched his cheek so delicately with her long, slender fingers.

"You should." He frowned at the couch, where his eyes had settled. "People have gotten hurt by me in the past, people who cared about me. In fact, everyone I come into contact with gets hurt. I don't want you to get hurt too."

"Inuyasha," she said softly, and her voice was the epitome of a lulling, soothing embrace. She looked at him with infinite trust. "You won't hurt me; I know you won't. I trust you."

He shook his head gratefully. "To be honest, I don't even want to tell you this right now, but it's only fair. Nothing good can come out of this. I just…I care for you a lot, Kagome, and I don't want you to get hurt." Great. He was repeating himself now.

"Inuyasha, I think that at this point, not being with you would hurt more than whatever it is you're talking about."

Inuyasha shook his head stubbornly.

"Look, so you've had bad experiences. Haven't we all? They're in the past and you can tell me about them whenever you're ready to tell me. In the mean time…Well, people do change, don't they?"

He just stared at her, this creature with such a forgiving, accepting nature. If only she knew. Then he considered her words. "I suppose."

"There, you said it yourself. People change, so then why shouldn't you be able to, if you want to?" She smiled tenderly at him.

Inuyasha leaned in and kissed her softly. If she was going to invest her faith in him, he sure as hell wasn't going to disappoint her if he could help it, and even if it was impossible, he wasn't going to crush her faith by telling her so. "You're right, Kagome; people do change, and so will I." He nuzzled her neck affectionately. Maybe, if he stayed with her, he would find the strength to make it true. He had the feeling that it was possible, as long as he was doing it for her. "I promise that I will change."

She nodded, instantly accepting him, and kissed his cheek softly. "If you want to, then I know you will. I believe in you."

**June 1, 2004. 1:36 PM. Inuyasha.**

"Young man?"

Inuyasha looked up from where he'd had his head cradled in his hands. It was a doctor standing in front of him. Inuyasha stood eagerly.

"Are you responsible for the young woman who came in earlier?"

"Yes. How is she? Is she alright?"

"Sir, why don't you sit down."

The air in Inuyasha's lungs jerked around, expelling itself and pulling itself back in gasps. "Tell me!" he demanded.

The man frowned and put his hand on Inuyasha's shoulder. "She is going to be alright."

All time froze.

"She's going to need to stay here for a few days, but she'll be just fine. She can even have children again, after she's waited for a healing period."

Inuyasha swallowed, throat like sandpaper, and became aware of his own claws digging into his palm, adding its freshness to the dried blood on his clothes. Kagome. His Kagome. She was alive, and she was going to remain that way. She was safe. He longed with a physical ache to have her in his arms. "How is my son," he asked with a harsh, grainy voice.

The doctor let out a tiny sigh and averted his eyes. The answer was etched in every frowning line of his face.

No.

This wasn't possible.

It couldn't be happening! Inuyasha stopped breathing and grabbed the man by the front of his shirt. "Tell me, Goddammit! My son! Is my son alright! Fucking tell me!"

"Sir…"

Inuyasha released the doctor, seeing the answer without having to hear it. He was vaguely aware of sinking to his knees, bending in on himself.

"I'm so sorry, sir, but the placement of the bullet made the survival of the fetus impossible. I'm sorry."

The world gave a mighty, violent jerk and tilted to one side. Inuyasha slumped to all fours. It had happened before: he'd been told something so huge and life-altering that it sent his body into autopilot. It happened again then. Rational thought remained as it always was; Inuyasha's own voice in his head, and even though his hands were clenching and he was collapsing into himself, his brain was working as it always did, struggling to grasp the enormity of what that stranger had just said.

"No!" he found himself screaming. "No, we hadn't even named him yet! We had three more months! Oh god…"

He felt like…

Scrambling up, he barely made it into the bathroom before throwing up everything he had to give, and more.

He kneeled, dry heaving, for what seemed like days.

When he was finally done, tears mixed with vomit, he collapsed against the wall of the stall and saw no reason to ever get up again.

Sometime in the next few minutes, consciousness left him and, after the doctor found him slumped uselessly against a stall wall, his still-open gunshot wounds were treated without his knowledge, and he didn't wake up for another nine hours.

**June 16, 2004. 12:02 AM. Inuyasha.**

"Ah, Inuyasha; I see you made the wise choice and returned to me."

Inuyasha said nothing. He was kneeling in front of Naraku and his head was bowed in defeat. A guard stood behind him, his enormous, heavy foot digging into Inuyasha's upper back, keeping him down in a demeaning crouch. Inuyasha hated himself in that moment almost as much as he'd hated himself while waiting for the verdict in the hospital just over two weeks ago.

"You are a valuable assassin, I'll give you that, but get one thing straight," Naraku ordered, his voice rumbling through the large room. "You are not indispensable. This is your last chance, Inuyasha. If you try to run, if you fight back, if you so much as blink when I haven't given you permission to do so, you and your mate will be dead within the hour. Do you understand?"

Inuyasha's hands clenched. It wasn't fucking fair.

"I asked you a question, hanyou! Do you understand!"

He gritted his teeth. "Yes."

"Good. Now, Inuyasha, to whom does your life belong?"

He despised himself. How could he go home to Kagome after this? He'd promised. She'd had only just returned to me, and now he was going to ruin everything. "You, Naraku-sama."

Inuyasha saw from his peripheral vision as Naraku nodded his head, and the guard retracted his foot. "Very good. You may leave; I have no business for you tonight. Report in tomorrow night at the same time. Now go."

The second he was dismissed, Inuyasha stood from his kneeling position and walked swiftly from the room. He didn't deserve to live.

**December 22, 2004. 1:23 AM. Kagome.**

"I'm home," Inuyasha announced softly, stumbling to the bed.

"Are you alright?" Asking that question was an automatic reflex to his presence and the addition of his weight onto the mattress. She didn't even think about it.

"Just tired, that's all." He flopped next to her and pulled her into his arms. "I missed you." He pulled the covers over them and tucked her close, folding himself around her, protecting her in the shelter of his arms and pressing the length of his body to hers. "This is better," he mumbled, and kissed her softly.

Kagome let herself be kissed, not particularly caring for his affection.

Inuyasha pulled back and she saw hurt clearly written across his face: rejection.

Her heart gave an almighty wrench. Seeing him like that and knowing that she caused it was worse than wondering if her mate would come home alive and well or in pieces.

"You don't even care that I'm here, do you?" he asked, his voice grainy and low in volume and pitch. "Have I fucked up so much, Kagome, that you don't even care whether I come home or not?"

Idiot. That was all she cared about. Kagome couldn't find the actions to bring those words to life, and instead, she found herself bursting into tears and hurling her arms around him. "Inuyasha!" she cried desperately, clinging to him.

He gladly tightened his arms and rested his cheek on the top of her head. He held her close as she wept.

"Inuyasha," she repeated, lost. Sobbing, she buried her face in his strong chest and admitted to her weakness. "I missed you too."

**March 4, 2005. 4:15 AM. Inuyasha.**

"Don't you dare walk out that fucking door, Inuyasha!"

Angrily, Inuyasha spun to face her, sick of fighting. "Or what!"

Kagome's eyes widened in shocked rage. "There doesn't have to be a threat attached! As your mate, I'm telling you not to walk out that door!"

"That's exactly it, Kagome; _you_ are _my_ mate! You belong to me! I'm doing what I have to do and I'm doing it with you screaming at me at ever corner, because you can't understand it!"

"You think I _belong_ to you?" She cocked her hands onto her hips, daring him to answer in the affirmative.

"Goddamn right you do." He slammed the door shut without exiting, needing something to physically abuse.

"So I'm just an object to you, is that it?"

"No, you're not an object; you're my mate! You know fully well that I have to do what I'm told to do, and yet you refuse to stop bitching about it!"

"I'm bitching because I'm starting to think you almost enjoy this kind of thing! You get off on being a martyr, don't you! Boldly sacrificing yourself every night to do something you hate to keep me alive! Why fucking bother!"

In two strides, Inuyasha had his hands clamped forcefully onto her shoulders. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Why bother, Inuyasha?" she pushed him away. "You've ruined absolutely everything else in my life, why not as well just stop fighting to keep me alive like you claim to be doing? You put me in perpetual danger, so why not just stop fighting and let me slip out of it once and for all? It's just starting over, everything is starting over, and I think…I think that I'm…" Her eyes shone with vicious fatigue and despair as she trailed off.

Inuyasha froze, not believing what he was hearing. "What are you saying?"

"You've put me through such hell, Inuyasha. Through it all, even though I've tried, I've never been able to stop loving you. I'll _always _love you, more than absolutely anything in the world.

"Ever since I found out about what you do, nothing's been right. My life has become what I had hoped it never again have to be. We grew up in similar situations, but you grew up like this, Inuyasha, without hope. I grew up believing that I would help people, in my own small way; that I would make a difference in the world, that once I found the right guy, we would settle down and raise a perfect family, and work boring jobs and be completely and utterly content with out lives.

"Well, I found the only guy I can possibly ever love, and all that our being together has led to is suffering and pain. That's not a life, Inuyasha. I don't want this anymore. I want you to stop running. I just want this to be over. I'm so sick of it. And now I think that I'm…and we're just starting over again, I can't take it if…if…"

Inuyasha's mouth was hanging thoughtlessly, as if on a broken hinge. What the hell was she talking about? He studied her for a moment, from head to toe, as if searching for some truth on her body. In one move, he wrapped his arms around her and pressed her close. Still fuming, Kagome tried to squirm away, but he pinned her arms to her side and stroked her hair lovingly. He wrapped himself around her, holding her tenderly but firmly.

"I will never stop fighting for you, Kagome," he whispered to her. "I don't care if you believe that promise or not, because, for once, that is the absolute truth. I love you. I will never give up on you or for you. Not like that." He kissed her temple lovingly.

Defeated, Kagome slumped against him. He tightened his grip and didn't let her slip for a single second.

Soon, she put her arms around him in return.

"Kagome, I do want to stop. But I don't know how. I can't see any way for us to leave safely."

Kagome lifted her head to look him in the eye. "We'll just _go_. We'll move around, never stay in one place long enough for them to catch up with us."

Sadness crept across Inuyasha's face. She was still so naïve. "We'll talk about this later, koishii." He sacrificed one arm to check his watch. "Shit, I'm really late. Naraku isn't going to like this at all. I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?"

Kagome nodded reluctantly. "Be careful," she requested quietly, clutching at the sides of his black shirt.

"Of course." He took her chin gently between two fingers and tilted her face up. Dipping down, he kissed her adoringly. "Stay safe."

He took one last look at her before pulling back and hesitantly leaving her side.

Inuyasha mentally shook his head as he leaped down the street and took to the rooftops, the fastest way to travel. He glanced at his watch again. He'd already been late before they had started fighting, and that fight had taken at least twenty minutes.

She'd been babbling half the time. Obviously, she'd been trying to tell him something, but he had absolutely no idea what. She'd kept trailing off every time she started. He would have stayed to drag it out of her but if he didn't get going, there would be dire consequences.

Inuyasha spotted the house. It was perched atop a hill in a ritzy part of town. He landed noiselessly on the roof. This target was a human; just some fat old bureaucrat who'd somehow crossed the wrong person, who'd gone to Naraku to have them killed. That was where Inuyasha came in, and he had nothing else to do with it.

Inuyasha circled the house once, not even bothering to hide his scent for this job. Quickly formulating a plan, Inuyasha reeled back and kicked the front door twice, giving off two mighty, resonating booms, and then crooked his arm and, with one jab, crashed a window with his clothed elbow. There was a gigantic clatter as the large window shattered, and he swiftly jumped onto the roof of the house, to hide. An alarm system began blaring, but that was alright; he had time. He could smell the situation perfectly as the man, who was alone in the house, soon came running to the window to investigate, the putrid scent of fear covering him.

Inuyasha waited until the man had looked around outside and left the window, presumably to call the police, and then slipped in through the hole he'd made. Creeping up behind the man, he covered his mouth with one hand and wrapped the other around his neck.

The human flailed, and his scent spiked in terror, and Inuyasha quickly, precisely gripped the man's chin and the back of his head, and gave a sharp twist. The human bones of his neck snapped easily, and the man immediately slumped to dead weight in Inuyasha's arms. He dropped the man to the floor, exited the way he came, and then he was leaping home. He could hear the sirens coming, but he was already long gone. When he was a couple blocks away, he heard a scream of terror: probably a neighbor finding the dead body.

Glancing at his watch again, he saw that the whole thing had only taken a couple minutes. Maybe Naraku would be forgiving, as he'd gotten the job done almost in record time.

He ran home, anxious to see his mate.

When he turned onto his street, he slowed to a jog, then a walk. It would be good to be home.

His ears caught the sound of a door from his complex banging, and then recognizable footsteps rushing down the stairs.

"Inuyasha!"

He burst into a sprint and caught Kagome as she came rushing out of the stairwell to meet him.

"What happened?" he demanded. "Is someone in there!"

Kagome frowned up at him. "What? No, nothing like that."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "You scared me."

"I just saw you coming down the street. We have to talk."

"What is it?"

She looked and smelled more frightened than she had been in quite a while. "Inuyasha…I have something to tell you."

"What?"

"This…it's important, Inuyasha." She looked at him sadly. "I'm just terrified you're going to give the wrong answer."

"What is it?" he asked again, his fear rising. What could possibly make her act this way? For so long, she'd seemed like nothing could touch her, like she didn't have anything to lose, and now she was frenzied, looking at him desperately. "You can tell me, Kagome."

"Inuyasha, it's like the past is repeating itself, and I don't know if it's just bad luck, or if I'm being given another chance, but I'm looking at it as the latter." Her brows came together and her breath caught. She looked eerie, haunted. "I won't let you mess things up again. This time, if you say that you can't leave," she told him quietly, tears coming once more to shine brightly on her eyes, "I'm going without you. And this time I won't come back."

---

**A/N: There was chapter five! PLEASE, please review!**

**Reviews:**

**Chidarake no baka: Wow, thank you _so_ much! I'm really glad you enjoy the fic**

**Bato-jitsu: What a compliment! Thank you so much. I'm so flattered!**

**Inuyasha'sChic: I'll definitely try!**

**ErrorDexis: I'm glad you think so. I really hope this story isn't incomprehensible, as that would kind of defeat the purpose, so I'm glad to hear that you think it's coming together!**

**And now for a shameless plug: I have another story that I'm going to be posting…uh…eventually. It's COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from this one: it's romance-comedy, almost entirely angst-free. Almost. It's called "An Entirely Different Kind of Cheating" and the basic premise is that Kagome is a cardshark who comes into Inuyasha's casino one day to cheat her way into some cash. Of course, he catches her in the act, and trouble and romance ensue. So be on the lookout for it and tell me if you think it sounds good!**

**As always, I hope you enjoyed, and PLEASE review!**


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